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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25083751">Going Home Again</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/NuclearPoweredStick/pseuds/NuclearPoweredStick'>NuclearPoweredStick</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star vs. The Forces Of Evil</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 04:14:20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>946</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25083751</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/NuclearPoweredStick/pseuds/NuclearPoweredStick</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Before he can move on with his life, Ludo feels compelled to pay one final visit to his father. (One shot. Originally created for a 24 hour writing challenge with the theme of "courage". Sort of a sequel to another story I wrote called A Four Letter Word, but you don't need to read it before you read this.)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Going Home Again</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Ludo was scared. More scared than he felt like he should've been. He wasn't afraid of what might happen to him physically. He was used to that. No, Ludo was scared that coming back meant that he could never really get away. That for all his work at moving on, he might be forever trapped in the past. But he had to know, even his fears turned out to be reality.</p>
<p>After a good minute of hesitation, Ludo took a deep breath and knocked on the door of the shack where his parents now lived. And he waited. With each second, his trepidation grew. Through the window, he could see a light on inside. Somebody was home. Was he being ignored? Had they expected him somehow, and chosen to shut him out?</p>
<p>As Ludo considered his options, someone on the other side finally cracked the door, then threw it open violently. "YOU!?" Lord Brudo stood on the other side, glaring daggers at his son, voice full of venom. "You've got a lot of nerve coming back here..." Ludo gave no response, looking up at his father with strange curiosity. Something had changed, although Ludo couldn't quite put his finger on it. "Just what are you doing here, runt?"</p>
<p>Standing outside the old shack, his father looming over him, Ludo wasn't exactly sure of the answer himself. He simply felt that he had unfinished business, even if he couldn't really explain what it was. Dennis had advised him to let it go, and he very nearly did. But somehow he couldn't quite do it. Not without seeing his father one last time. He slipped past Brudo, stepping inside the small cottage. Lord Brudo glowered at him as he entered, but made no effort to stop him.</p>
<p>The place itself was about what Ludo had expected to find from what Dennis had told him. Filthy, broken down, and rotting. Not quite unlivable, but close to it. His heart ached for his younger siblings, the ones not old enough to leave yet. He hoped they would join him in the old Avarius castle someday, with Dennis and the rest of his better adjusted family members. But until then, he knew they had little choice but to endure, just like he had.</p>
<p>Hearing the commotion, Lady Avarius poked her head out from the door to the kitchen. She gasped when she was who the visitor was, and as Brudo began to turn his head in her direction, she quickly made herself scarce before he could see her.</p>
<p>"So what is it, boy? You came back to ask forgiveness, beg us to take you back? Because it's too late for that. Or..." Brudo cracked his knuckles, preparing himself for a fight. "... or are you here to finally take a run at your old man? Think you're big enough now, do you?"</p>
<p>Even with Brudo spoiling for a fight, Ludo remained silent and unflinching, trying to come up with an answer to why he had come. It wasn't for revenge, he was sure of that much. There was a time when vengeance was the ONLY thing that would've brought him back to face his father, but not today. He had come to see his father for another reason. Maybe he needed closure. Maybe he needed to see the man's face one last time before moving on with his life for good. Or maybe he just needed to prove to himself that he had the courage to look his fears in the eye.</p>
<p>As Ludo mulled over the question in his mind, the words were beginning to come to him. "No. No, I'm just here to tell you something. Dad..." As he contemplated what he was about to say, he questioned the wisdom of burning this particular bridge. But he ultimately decided it needed to be burned, if it wasn't already. "I DON'T NEED YOU ANYMORE!" Ludo guessed his father already knew that, at some level. But to say it out loud, to his face, was liberating beyond description.</p>
<p>"You came all the way here to tell me THAT?" Brudo raised his hand high, bringing it down and striking his son hard with the back of his palm, knocking him to the floor. He then pointed toward the door, speaking in a low growl. "Get out."</p>
<p>It was a solid hit, but for once, the pain was only physical. Ludo didn't think it would've matter what he had said. The outcome would've been the same regardless. And in that moment, he realized why his father looked so different. It wasn't because Brudo had changed. He hadn't. Not in the slightest. But, Ludo realized, HE had. And with that, Ludo began to laugh. Laying on the dirty floor of his father's shack, face bruised from the hit, he laughed long and hard at the revelation he had just been given. The knowledge that, though scars might remain, the wounds could heal with time, and his father would never be able to open them again.</p>
<p>"What's so funny?" Ludo's father stared at him in confusion. In all the years, all the times he had struck his son, he had never seen such a response from him. Fear, anger, sorrow, yes. But never laughter.</p>
<p>Ludo pulled himself to his feet, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes. "'Get out', he says. Don't you understand? I already did!" He walked out of the shack with his head held high, fully intending to never see his father's face again, leaving Lord Brudo in stunned silence.</p>
<p>Now having his answers, Ludo returned to his true home, his true family, ready at last to live the rest of his life.</p>
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